Google DROID No Match for Winter Blast

January 3rd, 2010 |

On a recent family trip to see snow, I thought it would be great to see if my Droid phone from Verizon Wireless would have any problems at 3500 ft and in the bitter cold of the mountains of Blowing Rock, N.C. over New Year’s Eve.

Well the temp ranged from 23-8 degrees and a wind chill factor of -5 to -18. Yes -18 wind chill! For us you can keep the winter, I will stay with my Miami, sunny hot weather any day.

So during my stay the famous “Can you hear me know,” failed so many times that it got frustrating. First I averaged one lousy bar if I was lucky. I asked others that had an iPhone 3G from AT&T, and they had the same signal problem. So much for the 3G map both companies use in commercials showing signal coverage.

Later I went sliding down a hill with my kids and filmed myself going down the same hill. The video quality by the way was clear. But the phone was so cold to the touch that far too many applications slowed down to a crawl.

The worst part is that trying to answer a phone call using the screen thumb slide, it took 3 times to work. Even today, Sunday Jan. 3rd it still takes that long. Luckily for me, the phone never got wet, I made sure that the phone was dry, but nothing could be done for the bitter air temps.

But to be fair the only two applications - Phone Cam & Google Maps GPS worked almost as they should in the cold. The GPS made the road trip less stressful. Only one thing I ask, please Google upgrade the maps feature that allows you to drag your route to an alternate route, similar to Google Maps on your PC.

Not sure if Motorola tested the Droid in the cold weather but mine acted like an old 386 PC. Meaning that here are a few factors that you should take into consideration if you go to cold weather with any phone.

Do’s:

1. Keep your phone in a warm pocket or in a zipped pouch.
2. Make sure your phone battery is fully charged, the cold drains the battery faster.
3. If you use gloves make sure they are not wet.
4. Have another person takes your picture so you can fun in the snow.
5. Transfer your pictures from your phone cam or camera as soon as you can. Like to a laptop or upload them to facebook, flicker or any other photo library. That way if your camera breaks, freezes mor get lost you can save your memories.

Don’ts:

1. Do not ever use your Droid as a snow ball mold.
2. Never use a wet glove after a snow ball fight to call home.
3. Don’t expect a good signal in a mountain range.

Final verdict: The Droid works flawlessly in warm weather, but Jack Frost blows the Droids circuits into a frozen wasteland.

NOTE: All pictures taken with the Google Droid by Motorola, Dec. 31, 2009-Jan. 2, 2010, by Roy Bassave.